When a fire or other emergency condition occurs in a monitored region, known emergency response systems detect an area in the monitored region where the fire or other emergency condition is or was located and use a public address system, manual call point, or fire alarm to notify occupants in the monitored region about the fire or other emergency condition. The occupants can then exit the monitored region using a nearest fire exit and move to a safe assembly area, and an emergency response team can enter the monitored region to take over and lead evacuation of the occupants from the monitored region. However, when any of the occupants is injured and unable to evacuate the monitored region, known emergency response systems cannot identify those occupants. Indeed, an injured occupant must contact another known person to solicit the emergency response team moving to a location of the injured occupant and moving the injured occupant to the safe assembly area.
In known systems and methods, when the monitored region is densely populated, the occupants can follow one another to exit the monitored region and move to the safe assembly area. Similarly, when the monitored region is sparsely populated, the occupants can follow signs posted in the monitored region to exit the monitored region and move to the safe assembly area or can receive a map or directions on their mobile devices to guide them out of the monitored region and to the safe assembly area. However, such known systems and methods have several disadvantages. For example, the emergency response team has no real time data to indicate current locations of the occupants. Furthermore, the occupants may not follow the signs, map, or directions correctly, and there are no know systems and methods to redirect the occupants to a correct path. Indeed, the fire or other emergency condition with characteristics of high temperature, smoke, light, or a threat of death can create an environment of stress and fear that leads the occupants to panic or that prevents the occupants from thinking and acting properly, thereby making the occupants more likely to move in a wrong direction.
In view of the above, there is a continuing, ongoing need for improved systems and methods.